Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
Shock Strut
Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a shock strut and in particular to a shock
strut for a
landing gear assembly and a method of increasing the service life of a shock
strut for a
landing gear assembly.
Background of the Invention
A landing gear assembly for an aircraft is generally movable between a
deployed
condition, for taxiing, take-off and landing, and a stowed condition, for
flight.
Landing gear assemblies include shock absorbers, known as shock struts, to
absorb
and damp the significant loads that are experienced by the landing gear
assembly
during use, particularly during landing. Such shock struts include a hollow
cylinder
and a piston that slides within the hollow cylinder to form a chamber within
which a
fluid can be compressed. The hollow cylinder and the piston each have bearing
surfaces that slide relative to each other in use.
The hollow cylinder of the shock strut, commonly known as a main fitting or
outer
cylinder, may be manufactured from titanium, for example bare titanium, in
order to
minimise weight and/or to improve the corrosion resistance of the landing gear
assembly. Titanium does not have good tribological properties and so titanium
main
fittings are prone to wear resulting from friction caused by repeated sliding
of the
titanium surface against the surface of the piston of the shock strut.
To overcome this disadvantage of titanium main fittings, it is known to either
provide
a coating, for example electroless nickel, on the inner bearing surface of the
titanium
main fitting to provide improved wear properties.
One disadvantage of coating titanium main fittings to improve the
tribiological
properties of titanium main fittings is that the coating materials are not
1
7113110
Date recue / Date received 2021-12-03
environmentally desirable as harmful chemicals are used during processing of
the
coatings. Other coatings suffer the disadvantage that they are applied using a
thermal
spray gun, for example a detonation gun (D-gun), or using a high-velocity oxy
fuel
(HVOF) system, to project coating material onto a surface to be coated. The
space
limitations of the coating systems make coating the inner surface of the
cylinder of a
shock strut difficult.
An alternative approach to overcoming the poor tribological performance of
titanium
main fittings is to provide a non-metallic bearing surface on the piston to
slide against
the titanium main fitting, for example as described in European patent
EP1993907B1.
Whilst employing a non-metallic bearing surface to bear directly on bare
titanium
improves the tribological situation compared to running a metallic bearing on
bare
titanium, these shock struts are still subject to titanium's propensity to
wear more
rapidly than other surfaces typically used in bearing applications.
Summary of the Invention
According to a first aspect of the present invention there is provided a shock
strut for a
landing gear assembly, the shock strut including a hollow cylinder having a
first
bearing surface and a piston having a second bearing surface, the piston being
configured to move within the hollow cylinder such that the second bearing
surface
slides relative to the first bearing surface, wherein one of the first and
second bearing
surfaces includes a non-metallic material and the other of the first and
second bearing
surfaces includes cold worked titanium.
Providing a bearing surface that includes cold worked titanium ensures that
the shock
strut has improved wear properties, whilst benefitting from the weight
reduction
provided by the use of titanium. The present invention is also advantageous as
the
cold worked titanium bearing surface is more compatible with the non-metallic
bearing surface of the piston. The present invention allows the provision of a
shock
strut that has a lower weight and longer service life than known shock struts.
2
7113110
Date recue / Date received 2021-12-03
The cold worked titanium may be cold worked bare titanium. The cold worked
titanium may be cold worked titanium metal matrix composite.
The cold worked titanium may be peened titanium, for example the peened
titanium
may be shot peened or laser peened. The peened titanium may have a honed
surface.
The cold worked titanium may be frettaged titanium, for example autofrettaged
titanium.
The cold worked titanium may be burnished titanium, for example roller
burnished
titanium or low plasticity burnished titanium.
The first bearing surface may include cold worked titanium.
According to a second aspect of the present invention there is provided a
landing gear
assembly including a shock strut as described in accordance with the first
aspect of the
present invention.
According to a third aspect of the present invention there is provided a
method of
improving the service life of a shock strut including a hollow cylinder having
a first
bearing surface and a piston having a second bearing surface, the piston being
configured to move within the hollow cylinder such that the second bearing
surface
slides relative to the first bearing surface, wherein one of the first and
second bearing
surfaces includes a non-metallic material and the other of the first and
second bearing
surfaces includes a metallic material, the method including mechanically
modifying
the metallic material.
Mechanically modifying the metallic material ensures that the shock strut has
improved wear properties. The present invention is also advantageous as the
mechanically modified metallic bearing surface is more compatible with the non-
metallic bearing surface of the piston.
3
7113110
Date recue / Date received 2021-12-03
The metallic material may be titanium, for example bare or uncoated titanium
or a
titanium-containing metal matrix composite.
The metallic material may be mechanically modified by cold working.
Cold working the bearing surface, for example a titanium-containing surface,
ensures
that the shock strut has improved wear properties, whilst benefitting from the
weight
reduction provided by the use of titanium. The present invention allows the
provision
of a shock strut that has a lower weight and longer service life than known
shock
struts.
The metallic material may be cold worked by peening by shot peening or laser
peening the metallic material. The method may further include honing the
surface of
the peened material.
By cold working and honing the metallic material, the resulting shock strut
has
improved wear properties resulting from improved resistance to compressive
stresses,
increased hardness and an improved surface finish.
The metallic material may be mechanically modified by cold working by
frettaging,
for example by autofrettaging.
The metallic material may be mechanically modified by cold working by
burnishing,
for example by roller burnishing or low plasticity burnishing.
Burnishing is particularly advantageous and it allows the dual benefits of
cold
working and surface finishing, which surprisingly each contribute to the
improved
wear properties of the metallic material to be achieved in a single step
The first bearing surface may include a metallic material. The metallic
material may
be mechanically modified after formation of the hollow cylinder. The metallic
material may be mechanically modified in situ.
4
7113110
Date recue / Date received 2021-12-03
These and other aspects of the present invention will become apparent from,
and
clarified with reference to, the embodiments described herein.
Brief Description of the Drawings
Embodiments of the invention will now be described, by way of example only,
with
reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
Figure 1 is a schematic cross sectional view of an aircraft landing gear
assembly;
Figure 2 is a schematic cross sectional view of the dynamic seal assembly of
the
landing gear assembly of Figure 1; and
Figure 3 is a burnishing tool for mechanically modifying the inner surface of
the
cylinder of the landing gear assembly of Figure 1.
Specific Description of Embodiments of the Invention
Referring first to Figure 1, a known aircraft landing gear assembly comprising
an
oleo-pneumatic shock absorber is shown generally at 10. The shock absorber 10
forms
the main strut of the aircraft landing gear.
The shock absorber comprises an inner housing portion 12, slidably coupled in
an
outer housing portion 14 via bearings 26. The inner housing portion is known
in the
art as a 'slider', 'sliding tube', 'inner cylinder', or 'piston', and the
outer housing portion
is known as a 'main fitting', or 'outer cylinder'.
The sliding piston 12 and main fitting 14 together define an internal cavity
or chamber
16 which contains shock absorber fluid. In the illustrated embodiment the
chamber 16
contains oil 20 in a lower portion thereof and gas 22 in an upper portion
thereof. The
oil 20 and gas 22 together make up the shock absorber fluid.
5
7113110
Date recue / Date received 2021-12-03
The region where the sliding piston 12 and main fitting 14 overlap defines an
annulus
A between adjacent surfaces of the sliding piston 12 and main fitting 14. The
annulus
A varies in size in accordance with the extension state of the shock absorber
10. The
term "annulus" can mean a ring-like space which has a cylindrical or non-
cylindrical
cross sectional profile.
Referring additionally to Figure 2, an annular ring 18 is housed within the
annulus A,
adjacent to the open end of the main fitting 14. The annular ring 18 carries
seals to
confine the shock absorber fluid to the chamber 16.
A pair of dynamic seals 24 are mounted on the inner cylindrical face 18a of
the
annular ring 18 and arranged such that one or both of them press against the
sliding
piston 12 as the shock absorber extends and retracts, inhibiting the passage
of shock
absorber fluid from the chamber 16 to the outside environment.
A pair of static seals 28 are mounted on the outer cylindrical face 18b of the
annular
ring 18 to bear against the corresponding inner face 14b of the main fitting
14.
The annular ring 18 is locked in place within the annulus A between a shoulder
portion 14c of the main fitting 14 and a gland nut 32 which is screwed into
engagement with threaded end portion 14d of the main fitting 14.
In order to prevent dirt and other contaminants from entering the annulus A,
an outer
environmental seal 34 known in the art as a scraper seal or an extruder seal
is
provided. The scraper seal 34 is mounted in groove formed in the inner surface
of the
gland nut 32 between an outer flange 32a and an inner flange 32b so that its
position is
fixed relative to the cylinder 14.
The outer flange 32a also prevents larger objects from entering the annulus A
through
the gap between the outer surface of the sliding piston 12 and the inner
surface of the
main fitting 14. The outer flange 32a extends so that it is proximal to the
outer surface
of the piston 12, leaving a very small gap G between the inner edge of the
flange 32a
and the outer circumference of the sliding piston 12. This gap G may be
engineered to
6
7113110
Date recue / Date received 2021-12-03
accommodate for deflections in the sliding piston 12 during normal use such
that
during maximum lateral deflection of the sliding piston 12, it does not come
into
contact with the outer flange 32a.
The outer housing portion 14 is made from a metallic material, for example a
metallic
material including titanium such as bare titanium or a metal matrix composite
including titanium.
The bearing surface 27 of the inner housing portion 12 is made from a non-
metallic
material, for example a polymer such as polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE).
The inner surface 36 of the outer housing portion 14 is cold worked by roller
burnishing prior to assembly of the aircraft landing gear assembly using a
burnishing
tool 60 as shown in Figure 3.
The burnishing tool 60 has a handle 62 and a mandrel 64. The mandrel has an
outer
surface 65 and a plurality of rollers 66a, 66b, 66c, 66d that are arranged
circumferentially around the outer surface 65 of the mandrel 64.
The outer housing portion 14 is held in a lathe (not shown) and the burnishing
tool 60
is inserted into the outer housing portion 14. The mandrel 64 is moved axially
and
radially within the outer housing portion 14 such that the rollers 66a, 66b,
66c, 66d are
pressed into and smeared across the inner surface 36 of the outer housing
portion 14.
In this way, the inner surface 36 of the outer housing portion 14 is cold
worked,
thereby imparting compressive residual stresses to the inner surface 36 of the
outer
housing portion 14. The compressive residual stresses improve the resistance
of the
outer housing portion 14 to fatigue and cracking. The inner surface 36 of the
outer
portion 14 is also hardened and polished. The combination of compressive
residual
stresses, increased hardness and improved (polished) surface finish improves
the
tribological (wear) properties of the titanium outer housing portion 14.
In use, for example during landing of the aircraft, the shock strut 10 is
compressed
such that the inner housing portion 12 is moved within the outer housing
portion 14
7
7113110
Date recue / Date received 2021-12-03
and the volume of the elongate chamber 22 is reduced. Any gas within the
elongate
chamber 22 is compressed and provides an energy store.
The bearing surface 27 of the inner housing portion 12 slides relative to the
inner
surface 36 of the outer housing portion 14. As the bearing surface 27 of the
inner
housing portion 12 is formed from a non-metallic material and the inner
surface 36 of
the outer housing portion 14 includes cold worked titanium, excessive wearing
of the
outer surface of the outer housing portion 14 during use is prevented.
In the example described above the outer housing portion 14 is made from a
metallic
material, for example a metallic material including titanium such as bare
titanium or a
metal matrix composite including titanium In alternative embodiments, the
cylinder
may be made from aluminium, stainless steel or any other metal.
In the example described above, the inner surface 36 of the outer housing
portion 14 is
mechanically modified or cold worked by roller burnishing. In
alternative
embodiments, other burnishing methods may be employed, for example low
plasticity
burnishing or ball burnishing. It will also be understood that other cold
working
methods may be employed, for example peening or autofrettaging.
In the example described above, the formed outer housing portion 14 is cold
worked.
In alternative embodiments, the material from which the cylinder is formed may
be
cold worked prior to forming into a cylinder.
While the foregoing description has focussed on the aircraft landing gear
assembly, it
will be appreciated that the shock strut according to embodiments of the
invention can
usefully be applied to various vehicle support assemblies or other assemblies
which
require a shock absorber.
It should be noted that the above-mentioned embodiments illustrate rather than
limit
the invention, and that those skilled in the art will be capable of designing
many
alternative embodiments without departing from the scope of the invention as
defined
by the appended claims. In the claims, any reference signs placed in
parenthesis shall
8
7113110
Date recue / Date received 2021-12-03
not be construed as limiting the claims. The word "comprising" does not
exclude the
presence of elements or steps other than those listed in any claim or the
specification
as a whole. The singular reference of an element does not exclude the plural
reference
of such elements and vice-versa. Parts of the invention may be implemented by
means
of hardware comprising several distinct elements. In a device claim
enumerating
several parts, several of these parts may be embodied by one and the same item
of
hardware. The mere fact that certain measures are recited in mutually
different
dependent claims does not indicate that a combination of these measures cannot
be
used to advantage.
9
7113110
Date recue / Date received 2021-12-03
